GAIL LETHBRIDGE: Why won’t McNeil call public inquiry?

Premier Stephen McNeil’s reasons for not calling a public inquiry into the mass shooting that killed 22 Nova Scotians in April just don’t add up, says Gail Lethbridge. - Contributed

Like most of us, Premier Stephen McNeil wants an inquiry into the Nova Scotia shooting massacre.

But he doesn’t want to be the one to ask the questions.

Why? I would have thought he’d be keen to ask questions on behalf of Nova Scotians.

But instead, he wants the federal government to take the lead and is happy to have Nova Scotia “assist and support" the inquiry.

Huh?

He says a provincial inquiry can only be called in “matters in which the province has constitutional jurisdiction.”

I don’t understand that.

Yes, the RCMP is a federal police force but it provides policing services under contract to Nova Scotia. The legal authority for this arrangement is the Nova Scotia Policing Act. They are contracted and paid with Nova Scotia taxes to protect the safety of Nova Scotians and enforce laws and regulation.

This makes Stephen McNeil the boss and the Minister of Justice/Attorney General Mark Furey, his deputy.

It’s not like the province hasn’t done this before in matters involving federal agencies like the RCMP.

Take the Desmond inquiry. It was called by Furey under the provincial Fatalities Investigations Act to investigate the deaths of Aaliyah, Shanna and Brenda Desmond, who were shot to death by father-husband-son Lionel Desmond, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces.

The inquiry asked questions involving federal jurisdictions, including federally-regulated firearms regulation, PTSD related to his military service and access to Desmond’s federal health records.

If you apply McNeil’s constitutional jurisdiction argument, the Desmond inquiry wouldn’t have been called.

There are so many questions that need to be asked about the April massacre, one of the most critical being why an emergency alert was not sent out to Nova Scotians on that morning when it was clear there was a shooter on the loose.

If RCMP were already issuing warnings on Twitter and telling people to lock their doors, they knew Nova Scotians were in danger. That alert would have informed many more people and lives could have been saved.

Even the commissioner of the RCMP, Brenda Lucki, has admitted that.

Other questions include whether the RCMP had the proper training to deal with an incident like this. Why weren’t other police forces in Truro, Amherst and Halifax called to support the operation?

And what happened at Onslow-Belmont fire hall, where RCMP mistakenly opened fire on an innocent person who was not hurt.

Wider questions include how the shooter got a police cars with official markings, how he acquired his weapons, and why nothing was done five years ago when a neighbour reported that he was beating up his partner and had a collection of weapons.

An inquiry might also look into the way police treat domestic violence and the dirty little secrets in small communities where this happens, people know it happens but mind their own business and say nothing.

There are so many questions and reasons for the province to ask them. Yes, these questions will be difficult and painful as we peel away the scabs on this terrible wound to our province.

And I understand that Stephen McNeil is tired and preoccupied with management of the pandemic. He may just want to leave this unpleasant job to the feds.

But this tragedy happened in this province. Its victims were Nova Scotians. And for a time, we were all in danger.

The sooner we get these questions answered, the safer we will all be, including RCMP officers.

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